Scope for the Imagination

I knit four scarves this year, to go with the three I had made last winter and gave them to my college girlfriends. That makes a total of 12 scarves I’ve made in the last three years and I finally used up all of my Rasta yarn!

I made my first shirt! It’s a linen/cotton blend that was somewhat rough to knit, but definitely softened as I went along. I made a decision early on to not do shaping around the bust, and that was a mistake, as it’s a little more boxy of a drape than what I like. I also had to go back and reinforce the neckline because it was giving Flashdance vibes.

I learned how to crochet and made my mom a kerchief for Christmas. I like crochet because it’s only one loop of yarn you’re dealing with at a time, but finding the beginning of a round is so complicated, I basically did the whole thing three times.

I went to Thailand and learned how to do back strap loom weaving from some of the Tribal women. I’m pretty proud of what I managed to accomplish in just three hours!

I tried out spindle spinning, but I haven’t had enough time to devote to it – it’s really challenging pulling out the fibers just right to get the right tension and circumference.

My dolls from last year are still languishing. I was trying to design a little suit coat and haven’t gotten the proportions right and now it’s been long enough, I don’t know where the mistakes are, so I’m probably going to have to start over. I’ve also been trying to knit a pair of “glittens” (I don’t like the fingers on the pattern, so it’s a fingerless glove with a flap), but I’m struggling with the thumb and just discovered that I’m off on my count, so I had to go back several rows.

This was also the year that I discovered a knitting community and have been spending my spare Thursday afternoons at my local yarn store knitting with others. And I reconnected with a couple of friends: my next door neighbor and another friend from the old MoFem days both knit and spin, so they came over several evenings to “stitch and bitch.”